Comitology

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This article concerns aspects of the European Union's political system that may have changed as a result of the Lisbon Treaty on December 1, 2009.

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Under comitology ( English comitology , French la comitologie ) is understood to now mainly the system of administrative and expert committees within the European Union . The comitology committees are responsible for enacting the implementing provisions of EU legal acts, primarily EU directives . These are regulated by the so-called comitology decision (1999/468 / EC).

The Treaty of Lisbon fundamentally reformed comitology and gave the European Parliament more influence.

The term “comitology” was previously used for a general teaching by committees, bodies and the like, for example by Cyril Northcote Parkinson 1958 ( the science of comitology In: Parkinson's Law).

Main features of the system of delegated acts

The aim of delegated acts is to implement legislative acts more quickly by delegating legislative powers from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to the European Commission . This form of transfer is anchored in Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and is different from the comitology system applied before Lisbon. Delegated acts are almost identical to the previous regulatory procedure with scrutiny, but contain some major innovations.

Delegated acts are basically comparable to the applicable German law regulation of Art. 80 para. 1 of the Basic Law , which as well as the transfer of legislative powers to an executive body regulates (the Federal Government, a federal minister or a state government). A precondition for the delegation of legislative powers is first a legislative act i. S. v. Art. 289 para. 3 TFEU. This regulates that only non-essential provisions of the relevant legislative act can be transferred to the Commission. "Essential regulations" are understood to be those that are "decisive and of fundamental importance for the objectives that a legislative act is primarily intended [...], but not for mere detailed regulations of a technical nature". According to Art. 290 Para. 2 lit. a TFEU, the European Parliament and the Council each have a right of withdrawal for the powers delegated to the Commission. Art. 290 para. 2 lit. b TFEU gives Parliament and the Council the opportunity to object to the delegated powers “within the deadline set in the legislative act”.

In summary, the new procedure for delegated legal acts brings about the following innovations: There is no longer a horizontally binding framework. The legislators (European Parliament and Council) have the opportunity to determine objectives, scope, duration and transmission modalities on a case-by-case basis. In addition, this procedure no longer requires the Commission to obtain an opinion from a comitology committee. It can be assumed, however, that the Commission will continue to seek the opinion of expert groups in the Member States, as their expert knowledge can only be helpful for its draft. The powers of the legislators with regard to individual measures have been considerably expanded, since they can now apply a right of veto for any reason. In addition, under the new procedure, Parliament and the Council now have the right to independently and completely revoke the delegation of powers to the Commission.

Origin and main features before the Lisbon Treaty

Most legal acts passed by the EU legislator - the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament - only contain more or less precise targets that have to be implemented by means of implementing measures. In theory, the member states of the European Union are solely responsible for the implementation of European legal acts. In practice, however, this implementation takes place in cooperation with the European Commission , as it has greater knowledge of the often complex subject. The instrument of the comitology committees is used for this cooperation. In it, the Commission makes proposals for the implementation of the basic legal acts, which the Member States can approve or reject; the European Parliament also has a control and supervisory role in certain procedures. Today there are around 250 comitology committees for various topics; in 2005 they adopted a total of over 2,500 opinions.

In the comitology committees, there are delegates from the member states, usually representatives of the national ministries and recognized experts (from Germany, depending on the subject area, representatives of the federal states as well). The committees are chaired by officials from the European Commission who, however, have no voting rights. The committees meet regularly and take into account national legislative peculiarities, current developments or the (temporary) need for changes in the national implementation of existing European laws.

The term comitology itself first appeared in Cyril Northcote Parkinson 's 1957 book Parkinson's Law and Other Studies of Administration, and was then a general term for committee doctrine.

The origins of comitology go back to the early 1960s. Originally, the Council of the European Union developed the necessary rules for implementing EU laws. However, because he did not have the necessary capacity to go into the technical details of the implementation of all the decisions that had been made, it was decided as early as 1962 to delegate these implementing measures and essentially draft them by the Commission and adopt them in comitology committees by specialized officials from the national ministries allow. This procedure took place for the first time under the common agricultural policy .

As a result, various consultation procedures were created, each granting the Commission different implementing powers and the governments of the Member States with different levels of control. These three procedures (advisory procedure, administrative procedure and regulatory procedure) are set out in the comitology decisions of 1987 and 1999. The 1999 decision also gave the European Parliament a certain say in the implementing powers stemming from legal acts adopted under the codecision procedure . In this procedure, which was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the European Parliament has legislative powers equivalent to that of the Council of the EU. The individual implementing measures for the resulting legal acts are therefore now being transferred from these two institutions to the respective comitology committees.

Often the comitology committees were seen as the epitome of Europe's democratic deficit. Among other things, it was criticized that the comitology was not transparent enough and not democratically legitimized, for example because the committees were composed of civil servants and not of elected representatives. In 2006, the comitology was reformed (Decision 2006/512 / EC), through which the position of the European Parliament as a directly elected body was to be strengthened: In addition to the three previous comitology procedures, the “regulatory procedure with scrutiny” was newly introduced. This gives the European Parliament supervisory powers over the committees.

In political science, the comitology committees are the member states' means of controlling the commission: according to the principal-agent theory , the commission can use the knowledge it has over states in the complex matters of EU legislation to expand its power . By contrast, through the comitology committees, the member states retain control over the implementation of the EU legal acts that have been adopted and can thus reduce the Commission's influence.

The comitology procedure before the Lisbon Treaty

The various comitology procedures always begin with a draft from the European Commission specifying the measures to be taken to implement the EU legal act. The comitology committee can issue an opinion on this. Depending on the procedure, the Council or the European Parliament can then veto the proposals. In principle, however, this is only possible if the Commission's proposal goes beyond its implementing powers, if it is inconsistent with the aim and content of the legislative act adopted, or if it contradicts the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality .

Negative statements by the comitology committees are very rare; Usually, differences between the commission and the committees are clarified in advance. More frequent are the cases in which the committee itself does not meet the quorum for a decision, so that no opinion is given at all. In the vast majority of cases, the measures proposed by the Commission are actually implemented in the end.

The legal basis of the comitology committees is the “comitology decision” of the Council of 1999 and the respective basic legal act, for whose implementing provisions the committee is appointed. These legal acts are passed by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament in accordance with the applicable EU legislative procedures . The committees then act according to the comitology procedure mentioned in the basic act. The 1999 comitology decision describes the various procedures in more detail.

Advisory process

The advisory procedure (formerly: Procedure I) is used in cases where it is considered “the most expedient procedure”. It gives the Commission the greatest possible freedom, since the committee has a purely recommendatory effect here. The procedure is as follows:

  1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
  2. Within a certain period of time, the committee adopts an opinion ("Avis") by simple majority , which is recorded in the committee's minutes.
  3. The Commission shall, as far as possible, take into account the opinion of the Committee and take whatever measures it considers necessary.

Administrative procedure

The management procedure (formerly procedure II) is used for management measures or programs with a significant budgetary impact. The Council has a greater control competence here than in the advisory procedure. In particular, if the committee rejects the Commission's proposal, it can independently adopt different resolutions; He does not have this option in the other proceedings.

  1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
  2. The committee delivers an opinion within a period that is adopted by a qualified majority (i.e. by at least 55% of the states representing at least 65% of the EU population).
  • If the committee has not delivered an opinion or has approved the measures in its opinion, they are immediately applicable.
  • If the committee has rejected the measures in its opinion, they are communicated to the Council. The implementation of the agreed measures can then be postponed for up to three months. Within the same period, the Council may take a decision:
    • If the Council agrees or does not act on the Commission's measures, the measures proposed by the Commission shall enter into force.
    • If the Council (by qualified majority) takes a decision that deviates from the Commission's proposals, the measures decided by the Council shall enter into force.

Regulatory procedure

The regulatory procedure (formerly: procedure III) applies to measures of general scope or if the implementing measures can change provisions of the original legal act (so-called "quasi-legislative measures"). In contrast to the administrative procedure, the committee here has to expressly approve the Commission's proposals; however, this is the rule in practice. If the committee does not agree, the matter is referred to the Council. In contrast to the administrative procedure, however, it can only accept or reject the Commission's proposals; it cannot take any other resolutions.

  1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
  2. The committee issues an opinion within a period that is approved by a qualified majority .
  • If the committee has approved the measures in its opinion, they are immediately applicable.
  • If the committee has not delivered an opinion or has rejected the measures in its opinion, the Commission shall submit a proposal to the Council on the measures to be taken and inform the European Parliament . If the European Parliament considers that a proposal by the Commission goes beyond its implementing powers, it shall inform the Council of this view; however, it has no further options.
    • If, within three months, the Council accepts the Commission's proposal or if it does not act, the Commission proposal shall enter into force.
    • If the Council opposes the proposal within three months, the Commission must review the proposal. She can then either submit a modified proposal or submit the old one again.

Regulatory procedure with scrutiny

The regulatory procedure with scrutiny (French: Procédure de réglementation avec contrôle , also abbreviated to PRAC ) was introduced in 2006 and is intended to strengthen the European Parliament's influence over the comitology committees. It corresponds to the regulatory procedure, but Parliament has veto rights over the Commission's proposals. The regulatory procedure with scrutiny replaces the usual regulatory procedure for all basic legal acts that have come into being under the co-decision procedure . It takes a little longer than the normal regulatory process to allow for a more detailed parliamentary review.

  1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
  2. The committee issues an opinion within a period that is approved by a qualified majority .
  3. Irrespective of the committee's opinion, the Commission sends its proposal to the Council and the European Parliament.
  • If the committee has approved the measures in its opinion, these are immediately communicated to the Council and the European Parliament for review. A period of three months applies for this, which can be extended by one month.
    • If there are no concerns, the Commission's proposal will enter into force.
    • If the European Parliament (with a majority of its members) or the Council (with a qualified majority) rejects the proposal, the Commission shall submit an amended proposal to the committee.
  • If the committee has not delivered an opinion or has rejected the measures in its opinion, the Commission shall now submit a proposal to the Council on the measures to be taken. It also informs the European Parliament about it.
    • If the Council also rejects this proposal by a qualified majority within a period of two months (with the possibility of a one-month extension), the Commission shall submit an amended proposal to the committee.
    • If the proposal is adopted by the Council by a qualified majority or if the Council does not take a decision, the European Parliament shall decide within four months (with the possibility of a one-month extension):
      • If there are no concerns, the Commission's proposal will enter into force.
      • If the European Parliament (with a majority of its members) rejects the proposal, the Commission shall submit an amended proposal to the committee.

In cases of particular urgency, an implementing measure can also be adopted immediately in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny if the committee has given its approval. In this case, the Council and the European Parliament have one month to comment on the proposal. If either of them rejects the proposal, the Commission will suspend the implementing measures; However, for reasons of health protection, safety or environmental protection, it can only be maintained until new measures come into force. However, the Commission must then immediately submit an amended proposal to the committee.

Procedures for taking protective measures

The procedure for taking protective measures is not a comitology procedure in the strict sense, since no comitology committee is used. It is used when the Commission is empowered to take protective measures in a legal act, as was the case with the BSE cattle scandal in Great Britain.

In such a case, the Commission can initially decide on its own implementing measures. However, it must inform the Council of this. The latter can then (in each case with a qualified majority) confirm, amend or revoke the Commission's measures. It can also be stipulated that the Commission's measures are automatically repealed if they are not confirmed by the Council within a certain period. The exact design of the procedure for taking protective measures must be explained in the respective basic legal act to which it relates.

Comitology to Lisbon

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the old comitology decision 1999/468 / EC will become obsolete. There are only two procedures that are regulated in Regulation (EU) No. 182/2011: the advisory procedure according to Art. 4 of the Regulation and the examination procedure according to Art. 5 of the Regulation. These procedures regulate the adoption of implementing acts, which are to be adopted on the basis of basic acts. Art. 291 TFEU ​​is the primary law basis which opens up the possibility of enacting implementing acts on the basis of basic acts.

literature

  • Sebastian Huster: European policy from the committee: Internal views of the committee system of the EU. VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008.
  • Benedikt Scheel: The new comitology regulations and the European democratic deficit. In: Journal for European Law Studies (ZEuS). 2006, pp. 521–554 (on the current comitology reform of July 17, 2006).
  • Chris Sherwood, Hannah Kaplan: European Union: Understanding Comitology. US Commercial Service, Department of Commerce , 10/2007 ( buyusainfo.net ( memento from December 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF, 8S .; 277 kB]).
  • Annette E. Töller: Comitology. Theoretical significance and practical functioning of implementing committees of the European Union using the example of environmental policy. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2002.

On comitology in the sense of a doctrine of committee work:

  • Cyril Northcote Parkinson : The Coefficient of Disabilities, or Cabinets and Committees. In: ders .: Parkinson's Law. rororo 7848, Reinbek 1984, p. 154 ff.

Web links

Wiktionary: Comitology  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Council decision laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (1999/468 / EC)
  2. ↑ Cf. controversial reform of comitology. More competencies for the EU Commission? EurActiv.de , November 5, 2010, accessed November 7, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Hetmeier, In: Lenz, Borchardt (Ed.): EU Commentary. Art. 290, para. 5 f.
  4. ↑ a b Cf. Scientific Service of the German Bundestag, Department WD 11, No. 60/06 (December 12, 2006), The Comitology Procedure (PDF; 168 kB).
  5. ↑ Decision 2006/512 / EC
  6. ↑ Regulation (EU) No. 182/2011